A New Life
by ilike2eatlotsofpie
Summary: Riley is Alex's godfather. What happens when her parents suddenly die and he has to step up to the plate.... This is my first story, so please be nice!
1. Chapter 1

Okay, I had a sudden inspiration to write this last night! I know; it's probably really wierd! Sorry about any errors. (It was late and I'm a horrible speller!) This is my first story, so please be kind! Sorry also if my form is weird;I'm still trying to figure out how to work this, so bear with me!

"Two sets of suicides…go!"

Alex started sprinting at the sound of her coach's whistle. "Grrr, I hate suicides!" her best friend, Emily, gasped beside her. Alex nodded in agreement.

She was just starting her second set when her coach called her over. She noticed the Dean of Students, Mr. Coleman, standing next to him. She and Emily exchanged curious looks.

"Don't worry, your not in trouble," the dean assured her. Surprised, Alex walked over. "We want to talk to you down in the office. There's something we need to tell you," Mr. Coleman continued.

Taken aback, Alex followed the dean out of the gym and down the hallway to the school office. In the office was the head of the middle school, Ms. Ross, and the principle, Mrs. Peterson, waiting for her. Now Alex started to feel nervous._ What was so important that they needed the Dean of Students, the head of the middle school, and the principle to tell her?_

"Alex, why don't you sit down." Ms. Ross offered. Bewildered, Alex did as she was told.

"Alex," Mrs. Peterson began, "we just got the call. Your parents were in a horrible car accident this afternoon." Fear raced through Alex. She could feel her heart to start to race. "I'm so sorry to have to tell you this, but they didn't survive." Silence followed this statement. Alex stared at the three adults in a mixture of shock and confusion. She heard what her principle had said, but nothing registered inside her head.

"I'm going to take you over to the hospital right now," Mr. Coleman said gently. "We called the person on your emergency contact list, Riley Poole. How do you know him?"

" He's my godfather. C-can I get my stuff?" she managed to croak. He nodded sympathetically. Alex got up and walked out of the office in a sort of zombie state. When she got to the gym, class had just ended.

"Hey Alex, what was that all about?" Emily asked as Alex grabbed her gym bag from the bleachers. But she just shook her head and walked past her friend. She sprinted up the stairs, ignoring everybody around her.

"What do we have for homework?" Alex muttered to herself when she reached her locker. Quickly, she stuffed her math, history, and English binders into her backpack and headed back downstairs before anyone had the chance to ask her more questions.

Mr. Coleman was waiting for her down in the office. She tossed her stuff in his car and climbed into the back seat. The ride to the hospital took only ten minutes, but Alex had lost all sense of time.

"Here we are," her dean said as they pulled into the parking lot. Silently, she grabbed her bags. Mr. Coleman put a comforting arm around her shoulders and led her into the hospital.

Once inside, they were directed to a special waiting room for the family members of patients in the E.R. It was obvious the room was supposed to be warm and soothing. The walls were painted a warm beige color and the room was full of comfortable couches and chairs, but Alex felt no comfort from it all.

They had been waiting for about fifteen minutes when there was a knock on the door. A doctor popped his head into the room. "Can I talk to you for a moment?" he asked Mr. Coleman.

"Of course." "I'll be right back," he added to Alex, patting her on the shoulder.

She hardly moved. The shock was still too great._ My parents can't be dead, _she kept thinking to herself._ They just can't be._

Then the door opened again. This time, it wasn't Mr. Coleman or a doctor; it was Riley. He stood in the doorway for a moment watching her, the shock in his eyes mirroring what she felt.

"Alex," he finally murmured. Suddenly, this was all too much for Alex. She ran over to him and threw her arms around him, the tears streaming down her face. "It's okay," he whispered to her as he held her. "It's okay."


	2. Chapter 2

Hey, this is the second chapter! Thanks so much for all the reviews!

"Do you know what happened?" Alex finally managed to ask.

Riley shook his head. "No more than you do. All I know is they were in an accident."

There was another knock on the door and the same doctor who had been talking to Mr. Coleman stepped into the room. "Hi, I'm Dr. Wilson," he introduced himself. "Why don't you sit down."

Nervously, Alex sat on the nearest couch. Riley sat beside her.

"I'm so sorry for your loss," Dr. Wilson continued. "If there's anything we can do for you, please ask."

"We'd like to know what happened," Riley said.

"Of course. We're a little unclear on the details, but they were hit head on by a speeding driver, who was possibly drunk. They were pronounced at the scene."

_A drunk driver at three o'clock in the afternoon?_

"Did they catch the driver?" Alex asked quietly.

"No, I'm afraid they didn't. It was a hit and run. I'm so sorry," the doctor answered gently.

Alex turned her gaze away from the doctor and stared at the wall behind him. She didn't want him or Riley to see the angry tears in her eyes.

_What idiot would hit a car head on then leave the scene of the accident! _She thought bitterly. _Doesn't he have any morals? _

"Hey, can I talk to you outside?" the doctor asked Riley. "Don't worry, it won't take long," he added to Alex.

Once they had left the room, she continued to stare at the wall, trying to come to grips with what happened. She hadn't been by herself for long when the door suddenly flew open and a shape hurtled into Alex. It took her a moment to realize it was Emily.

"Oh my gosh, I can't believe this happened!" her friend cried as she hugged (more like strangled) her.

Alex hugged her back. "Neither can I. It was some stupid drunk driver who didn't even stick around at the scene."

Emily let go of her for a minute. Alex noticed the tears on her face.

"Are you serious?" Emily asked her. Alex nodded. "I'm so sorry!" she said as she threw her arms around Alex again.

She was very grateful to have her best friend keep her company for the next several hours, most of which was spent waiting. But finally, around nine o'clock, Riley returned from talking with a doctor (for the fifth time).

"Let's go home, kiddo," he said, putting his arm around Alex's shoulders. "You must be tired." She nodded.

"See you tomorrow, Em," she said to her friend.

Emily looked at her in surprise, as if to ask, "Why the heck are you going to school tomorrow?" But instead she said, "Okay, see you tomorrow."

Alex grabbed her backpack and followed Riley out of the hospital, grateful to be rid of the confining space at last.

"So I guess we need to stop by your place so you can pick up a few things," Riley said as they drove out of the parking lot. Alex nodded and gazed silently out of the window.

When they reached her house, Riley asked, "Do you have a key?" She realized she didn't.

"Do you have a flashlight?" she asked.

Puzzled, Riley handed her a mini flashlight attached to his key chain. Getting down on one knee, she shined the light on the patch of dirt next to the backdoor and grabbed a rock. Turning it over, she noticed that it had hinges on it.

"Fake rock," she explained to Riley as she opened it and took out the key.

Alex unlocked the door and walked into the dark house. A wave of grief flooded through her as she stood in her empty kitchen. Trying to shake it off, Alex dropped her stuff and ran to her room.

She grabbed a small duffel lying on the ground and packed her uniform skirt and polo for tomorrow, extra clothes, toiletries, a book, her ipod, and her favorite stuffed animal (she may be thirteen, but she would never be old enough to get rid of the stuffed penguin she had had since she was a baby.)

"I'm ready," she said to Riley, who was waiting for her in the kitchen.

"Okay," he said, picking up her backpack.

Alex watched her house with tears in her eyes as they drove off. She had grown up in that house; it was impossible for her to imagine leaving it.

I know this is still really depressing, but it will be better in the next chapter! Please bear with me!


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N- Hey! Sorry this chapter took awhile; I was having issues with writers block! Thanks again for all the reviews! Just to let you know, this chapter takes place about two months after the events of the last two chapters.**

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"Thanks for the ride, Em!" Alex said as she stepped out of the car in front of Riley's house.

"No problem, see you later!"

Pulling a key out of her pocket, she unlocked the front door and walked in.

"Hey Alex!" Riley called from the living room.

"Hey Ri!" she replied. "I didn't expect you home. What was so important that Emily had to bring me home? Oh, hi Ben."

Alex walked into the living room to find Riley and Ben Gates discussing something. Riley had introduced her to Ben about a month ago. Apparently, he was had some job offer for Riley.

"Hi, how was school?" he asked politely.

"It was fine. I'm glad it's over though, for a week at least."

Ben laughed. "Isn't everybody."

"Hey, Alex, um, good timing. There are some things we need to talk you about," Riley said.

"Uh, okay," she responded, sitting down on the coach next to him.

"Have you ever heard of the Templar Treasure?" Ben asked her.

"Um, no, can't say that I have," she answered, slightly confused at the question.

"I'm not surprised," Ben continued. "See, there's a legend saying that the Founding Fathers of our nation buried a vas treasure full of ancient artifacts and gold."

Alex glanced from Riley to Ben. "Okay, and you guys believe in this treasure?"

"Well, the first clue that this treasure may actually exist came from my great-great-great-great grandfather Thomas Gates. He was told, "the secret lies with Charlotte". The _Charlotte_ was an old ship that was wrecked and we think we found it."

"Where is it?" Alex asked.

"The North Pole," Riley replied.

"The North Pole?"

"Well, not exactly the North Pole, but somewhere up in the Arctic near there," Ben explained.

"So we're going to the North Pole to look for treasure?" she asked in disbelief.

"Uh, yeah, pretty much. So go pack your bag; we leave tomorrow morning," Riley answered.

Alex stared at Riley and Ben incredulously. "Okay," she repeated slowly.

She got up and headed to her room. Taking her phone out of her pocket, she dialed Emily's number.

"Hey," she greeted when Emily picked up.

"Hi," she responded.

"Yeah, about hanging out this week, I don't think I'll be able to do it. Riley planned a surprise trip."

"Cool, where are you going?"

"Uh, somewhere up north. I'm not really sure where, we leave tomorrow, so I have to pack." Alex thought it best not to tell her friend about the so called "treasure".

"Great, now I'm going to be bored all week," her friend complained.

Alex laughed. "Sorry, I didn't know we were doing anything until I got home. Where's my parka?" she muttered to herself.

"Your parka? How far north are you going?!"

"Like I said, I don't know. At least to Canada though."

Suddenly, there was a knock on her door. "Oh, I've got to go. I'll call you later…Okay, bye."

"Come in!" Alex said as she hung up the phone. Riley walked in.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey."

"Look, I know this must seem really sudden and kind of weird."

"Oh, just a little."

"Just give him a chance, okay? Ben is brilliant! He's been looking for the _Charlotte_ for two years!"

"I know," Alex sighed as she sat on her bed, "but it just seems so…"

"Unlikely that it actually exists?"

"Exactly!"

"I know, but hey, at least it gives you something to do during spring break."

"True. Emily's mad now because she is going to be bored all week."

Riley laughed. "I'm sure she'll live."

They sat there for a while in an amicable silence. "Wait a minute, is this the job offer you were talking about?" Alex asked suddenly.

"Uh, yeah." Riley replied, sounding slightly guilty. "Once we get up there, I'm responsible for actually finding the ship."

"Oh, okay."

"Hey, it'll be fun," Riley assured her, patting her on the back.

"I know. But if it's in the North Pole, how do we know Santa's elves didn't steal it?"

Riley rolled his eyes and cuffed her gently over the head. "Just finish packing," he said as he left the room. "And you heard Ben, it's not actually in the North Pole!"


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hiya! Here's the fourth chapter! I hope I didn't make it too long. Oh, yeah, Disclaimer: I obviously don't own anything except my sometimes over active imagination! I'm not sure if I'm suppose to put that, but there it is anyway!**

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_Beep, Beep, Beep._ Alex groaned as her alarm went of at four thirty in the morning.

"Rise and shine!" came a cheerful voice right outside her room.

"Grrr, Riley, why do we have to leave so early! No normal person is up at this hour!"

"Because, we have a six thirty flight," Riley explained as he turned on her bedroom light.

Groaning again, Alex threw her pillow over her face.

Riley laughed. "Come on, it's not that bad!"

"You know I'm not a morning person!"

Riley walked over to her bed and grabbed the pillow. "Come on, get up, we need to leave by five fifteen to get to the airport."

"Fine, I'm up, I'm up," she said.

Luckily, there wasn't much traffic on the road at five a.m., even by Washington D.C. standards, and they made good time getting to the airport.

When they arrived, the found Ben waiting for them right outside Check-In, backpack on his back, duffel thrown over his shoulder, and a cup of coffee in his hand. "Good morning," Ben greeted. "Everybody awake?"

"No," Alex answered shortly.

"She's not a morning person," Riley explained.

"I repeat, no normal person is up at this hour!"

Ben laughed. "I'm sorry to get you up so early, but this was the only time my friend could fly us."

The trio passed through security and headed to a special gate where Ben's friend was meeting them. "Hey Archie!" Ben said to a man waiting outside the gate.

"Ben! It's good to see you again!"

"And you! Archie, this is my friend Riley Poole, and his goddaughter, Alex, who will be accompanying me."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," the pilot said, shaking their hands. "Well, if this is everyone, let's get a move on. There's a storm that's suppose to hit the town we are flying into later today and I don't want to get stuck in it."

They loaded their luggage and boarded onto the small bush plane. Ben sat up front next to the captain while Alex and Riley squished into the back with all the luggage. It was a surprisingly smooth, if not loud, trip.

Three hours later, they arrived in a small town in Baffin Island, Canada. Alex stepped out of the small plane, blinking in the sudden bright sunshine, and shivered. It was much colder here than it had been in Washington D.C. She took out her bright blue fleece jacket and pulled it on over the sweatshirt she was already wearing.

"Cold, isn't it?" came an unfamiliar voice with a British accent.

"Ian! It's good to see you!" Ben said to the stranger.

"You to Ben!" he replied. "Now, are you going to introduce me to your friends?"

"Of course, Ian, this is Riley Poole and his goddaughter Alex," Ben introduced. "Riley's going to help track down this ship."

"Good, good," said Ian. "And what about you? Just tagging along?" he asked Alex.

"I guess," she replied.

"Good, good," he said again. "Well, come on, let's get a move on. We don't have all day."

They followed Ian through the airport and across the parking lot to his car. They loaded their baggage into the truck and climbed into the car. Not long after they started driving, Alex fell asleep, her head resting against the window in the back seat. She was in the middle of having a strange dream involving Emily and a couple of tap dancing pigeons when Riley gently shook her awake.

"Alex, wake up, we're here," he said.

"Where's here?" she asked groggily.

"We have to switch vehicles," Riley explained. "We're on the arctic plain now and this car can't drive through all this snow."

Alex sat up and looked out her window. They had left all signs of civilization far behind them. It was like a winter wonderland. "How long were we driving?" she inquired.

"About two and a half hours. You were pretty out of it. We stopped for lunch on the way; I got you a sandwich," Riley said, tossing her bag with a sandwich, a bag of chips, a bottle of water. "Here, you may want to put these on," Riley continued, tossing her parka, gloves, ski hat, and a pair of sunglasses over to her.

She pulled them on and climbed out of the car. When she walked out into the snow and ice, Alex realized how glad she was to have warm clothing. She thought it was cold back at the airport, but now it had to be at least twenty degrees colder.

"Come on, this way," Ian directed, leading them over to where two snow plow trucks were waiting for them. Ian, Ben, Riley, and Alex got into one while two of Ian's friends who had brought the trucks drove the other.

"Okay Riley, you are in charge now. Which way do we go?"

"Give me a sec," Riley said as he pulled out his laptop and turned in on. "Let's see, if we believe the _Charlotte_ is here, we have to drive…north," Riley muttered to himself. "Start driving straight," he said more loudly, "and turn right in about four miles."

Ben did what Riley told him to do. "What now?" he asked Riley as they turned right.

"Now, just keep going straight. We should reach the ship in about six miles."

But, after going for six miles, they found no sign of a ship. "It should be here," Riley said, checking his computer again.

"Hang on," Ben said, stopping the truck and getting out. The rest of them followed. "I think we should start digging," Ben explained. "It may be buried under the snow."

Alex had a hard time imagining an entire ship buried in the snow, but she helped dig just the same.

Suddenly, a loud clank rang out in the artic wilderness. "I found it!" Ben cried.

They all ran over to have a look. Sure enough, Ben had dug up a wooden plank that said "_Boston, Massachusetts, 1776. The Charlotte"_

"My gosh," Riley whispered next to her "I can't believe we found it."

"We need to plow off all this snow," said Ben. "Get the trucks, it'll be easier that way." In just thirty minutes, they had managed to uncover the whole front of the ship.

"I think we can go in now," Ben said.

Silently, the party followed him down the steps and into the main compartment of the ship. The room was full of barrels.

"What do you suppose is in the barrels?" one of Ian's assistants asked.

Ben opened one of the barrels. "Gunpowder," he explained.

Abruptly, a scream filled the small cabin. Alex jumped and turned to see Riley on the ground.

"Sk-sk-skeleton," he stammered as he got back up on his feet. Alex snickered. Everybody else ignored him and turned back to looking at the barrels full of gunpowder.

"Why is this barrel being guarded?" Ben asked.

Alex turned to see what he was talking about. A skeleton was leaning up against a door, clutching a barrel. She had to agree with Riley; it was pretty creepy.

Ben opened the barrel and started fishing through the gunpowder…and pulled out a pipe. Silence filled the cabin as everybody stared at Ben.

"There's a message," he said, pulling a piece of paper out of the pipe. It turned out to be a riddle. Everybody watched as Ben read and reread the riddle and started to mutter to himself.

Suddenly, he said, "I've got it! There's an invisible map on the back of the Declaration of Independence!"

They all stared at him. "You got all that by reading a riddle?" Ian asked skeptically.

Ben nodded. "Our only problem is, how do we get to the Declaration?"

"Well that's not problem," Ian assured him. "All you have to do is steal it."

Ben, Riley, and Alex looked at him in surprise.

"You can't steal it!" Ben exclaimed.

"Why not?"

"Because it's the Declaration of Independence!"

"So, I've got connections. Once we're done with it, we can just return it."

Ben shook it head. "No."

"Well, I'm sorry you feel that way, Ben. I guess this is where our partnership ends." And Ian pulled out a gun, pointing it directly at Ben.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N Hi! Here's the next chapter! Hope you like it! Just to let you know; I'm going on vacation tomorrow for a week, so I probably won't be able to update for awhile. That is, unless I can find a computer!**

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"If you don't help me, a bullet's going through your friend Ben," Ian threatened, aiming the weapon at Riley.

"No!" Alex cried.

"And if you don't shut up, you'll be next," he said as he cocked the gun.

"Whoa, wait a minute," Ben cautioned. "We're in a cabin full of gun powder. If you shoot that gun, you'll blow the whole ship up!"

"Hmm, good point," Ian, said as he pulled a flare out of his pocket and lit it, "But lucky for us, we're by the exit!" and he threw it on the ground.

Instantly, the gunpowder flared up. A curtain of smoke and flame blocked their view of Ian and his thugs escaping.

"Alex, Riley, get over here!" Ben yelled.

Alex felt Riley grab her arm and drag her over to Ben's voice. Ben pulled on a latch in the floorboard and a secret flight of stairs led down deeper into the ship.

"Hurry, get in!" Ben urged.

Riley went down first, Alex following with Ben bringing up the rear. They found themselves in a narrow corridor with a roof so low they couldn't stand up straight.

"Keep going!" Ben said from behind.

Riley grabbed her hand again, and half running, half crawling, Alex followed him down the tunnel. She was about five feet away from the exit when there was a low rumble and the ship started to shake. Then there was a loud boom. Alex felt herself flying through the air and she fell heavily in the snow. Her ears rang from the noise of the explosion and she coughed from inhaling smoke and snow.

"Is everybody okay?" Ben asked from next to her.

Alex sat up, brushing snow off her face. "Yeah, I think so," she answered.

"Me to," Riley said.

"Good," Ben said, standing up.

"What do we do now?" Alex asked.

"There's a small town not too far from here," Ben responded. "There are a bunch of bush pilots there; hopefully one can give us a ride back to D.C, or at least close to."

"What are we going to do about Ian?" said Riley.

Ben sighed. "I don't know yet; but we have plenty of time to think about it. It'll take Ian and his gang some time to get back also."

Fortunately, they reached the town by nightfall and were able to rent a couple of rooms in a small inn. The next morning, the headed out and found a pilot who was heading to Charlotte, North Carolina. From there, they took a train to the Washington D.C. airport, where their cars were waiting for them.

"Well, thanks for your help," Ben said once they reached the parking garage. "Hope you don't have any lasting injuries."

"It was no problem," Riley replied.

"Yeah, it was, uh…interesting," Alex said.

Ben grinned at her. "That it was." Then to Riley he said, "I'll call you tomorrow so we can figure how we're going to handle Homeland Security and the FBI and anybody else we may have to talk to. We need to do something before Ian has time to do anything."

Riley nodded. "I know; I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Okay, see ya."

"Bye!"

Alex followed Riley silently back to the car.

"You okay?" he asked her as they climbed into his Honda.

She nodded. "It's just a little hard to wrap my head around everything that happened," she responded.

Riley smiled. "I know what you mean. I feel the same way."

They sat in silence for a few seconds. Then Alex smirked.

"What is it?"

"Nothing really. I was just thinking; what the heck am I going to tell Emily?"

He laughed. "I don't know. Good luck."

They were silent for the rest of the drive, each lost in their own thoughts.

It felt good to be back home. Even though they were only gone a day and a half, it felt like a week to Alex.

She took her stuff into her room and closed the door. Dropping her duffle on the ground, she sat on her bed and turned on her phone. Alex dialed Emily's number, but hesitated to press the call button.

Sighing, she closed the phone.

Half of her wanted desperately to confine her best friend into everything that happened. She couldn't wait to see Emily's reaction when she heard about Ian and the incident on the _Charlotte_.

But another part of her didn't want to tell her, at least not yet. Part of Alex wanted to wait. What if they found another clue? What if they actually found the treasure? She wanted to wait so she could tell the whole story at once.

But did she dare hope that the treasure existed, or was it all just a legend?

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**A/N: Hi! I know that I haven't updated in like, two and half weeks, but this month has been absolutely crazy for me! I'm working on the next chapter now and I'll get it out as soon as I can! Thanks for all the reviews! You guys are awesome!  
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